Belen Jesuit ordered to pay over $680,000 after violating wage and child labor laws
MIAMI -- Labor laws don’t go on summer break, which is why Belen Jesuit Preparatory School not only owes 461 summer camp employees $635,269 in back pay, but also got fined $47,578 for violating child labor laws.
The Department of Labor announced the violations and penalties Friday. In a Friday night statement e-mailed to the Miami Herald, Belen president Father Guillermo García-Tuñón said the school won’t fight the payment of wages, but does plan to fight the fine.
According to the Department of Labor, Belen’s summer camp worked 97 counselors aged 14 or 15 more than 40 hours per week each. Even when school is out, federal law slaps a 40-hour ceiling on work hours for that age group.
“As with most school-based summer camps in Florida, Belen believes that its summer camp qualifies under the Section 13(a)(3) recreational exemption of the Fair Labor Standards Act, which exempts summer camp counselors from certain wage and overtime requirements,” García-Tuñón’s e-mail said. “The Department of Labor notified the School that it considered the Section 13(a)(3) exemption did not apply to the school’s summer camp counselors.”
Read more: https://www.miamiherald.com/news/local/education/article216088890.html
